


Working things out

by Spoiler1001



Category: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, 悪魔城ドラキュラ | Castlevania Series
Genre: AU, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Burning, Character Death, F/M, Fated Lovers, Hallucinations, Heavy Angst, Hook-Up, Hurt/Comfort, I seem to be playing a game of how sexy i can make something without making it explicit, Implied Sexual Content, Major Character Injury, Major Character Undeath, Modern Day, Second Chances, Sexual Tension, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Succubi & Incubi, Vampires, Witchcraft, and everyone Trevorcard feeds from falls in love with him, and now gets to kill shaft, for a different reason though, its a blend between the two, light gore, second loves, this has flavors of SOTN, where maria survived doomsday, will be blood drinking though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-08-24
Packaged: 2019-06-19 03:45:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 13,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15501615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spoiler1001/pseuds/Spoiler1001
Summary: People liked the porn I wrote with these two so I decided to write a fic about them. How they met, and how they learn to fight alongside each other is discussed here and this is their first mission. STOP SHAFT. Of course this goal is littered with sacrifice and when souls join together are ripped apart, sometimes it would be easier to let evil win. Heartbreak and grief are easy to avoid, at the cost of love and good memories, but it leaves one to wonder: is it all worth it?





	1. Chapter 1

The first thing Alucard noticed about her was the brotherhood insignia on her shoulder. The second thing he noticed was how it was torn at the edges in many different directions. Her hood was up, but he could see little blond strands falling from it. It was October and her thin sweatshirt had holes in it, her breath coming out in little clouds from thin blue lips. Alucard started watching her as well.

The two of them stared at each other as the moon fell behind clouds and ice rain pelted the two of them. His gold eyes looking for anger and hate in her, but her posture was almost relaxed, the only stiffness coming from the cold. Trevor stopped feeling cold and whatnot decades ago, but he knew she did, he could feel her body heat seeping out in the water vapor around her.

And she was still giving him that smile. Until lightning struck, and she opened her mouth to speak, hesitated, and closed it, returning to that damned silence. Alucard was beyond curious at this point. He briefly wondered if this was a trap, and she was a creature of the dark. He didn't dismiss the idea but it was easier to just be suspicious that not be. 

He took one step towards her, then another. By then he could hear more heartbeats surrounding him.

Many more members of the brotherhood seemed to walk out of the walls and surround him, leaving him with no way out except through him. They didn't seem to be attacking, just moving in, pushing him towards the woman in the back of the alley.

"Enough..." she finally spoke, her voice rasping, digging into his mind. She walked smoothly towards him, her long legs making the way easily, but with little to no sound. "We have his attention, leave us to discuss matters." Her eyes seemed to look through him onto the men of her group.

Alucard glared at her and waited, counting the heartbeats until they were out of sight. The woman lowered her hood. Her once shiny blond hair was dried and stringy, she lacked the blush needed to make her skin flush. She almost looked gray. She had bags under her eyes so dark they could be bruises, matching the shade of her blue lips. Her eyes were green, but her whites were so bloodshot that they only showed red. Her cheeks were sunken in making her look emancipated. The image of her made Alucard think back to men who drown in ice water, the cold killing them before the water does.

"We need your help, but we can't let you father be involved." She spoke. Alucard looked around and sighed.

"Did you really send those men away?" He growled.

"Of course" there was no hesitation in her response, only worry, but that damn heartbeat was still calm.

Alucard snarled, forcing her against the hard brick wall, teeth at her throat, but hand behind her head. "Foolish, to trust a vampire."

She laughed.

"Which is why Gabriel is not to get involved." She had one hand between them and it lit a small flame. "We need your help after Lucifer attempted to cross over into this world, we lost too many men to risk sending them out for a suicide mission, so the council of the brotherhood decided that I should bring you along"

Alucard hissed. Her pulse still did not increase. She didn't even look scared of him.

"They are willing to throw you away for this mission."

"They did the same to you." She didn't even flinch, even as a little angry noise escaped his throat.

"Something was stolen from me and they don't see me as valuable without it. We need your help to get it back. I need your help before someone uses it to bring Satan's power to this world for themselves."


	2. Chapter 2

Alucard pulled away to look her in the eyes. She bore no signs of lying and her steely eyes would have matched his when he went to kill his father, only Trevor remembered fear running through his veins. He shouldn't trust her, but he had no real choice.

"You are a fool to come to me." He pulled away, letting Maria reuse that he had pushed her under an awning. She looked up at it and blinked, staring at it before looking at him. Her hair was clinging to her face as she shook her head, huffing through her nose at some unknown joke.

"And you are foolish enough to help." She walked to the entrance of the alley. "You'll find me when you are ready to." She walked away from him and Alucard sighed, trying to decide if she was right. He ran through the reasons why he should help her an why he shouldn't. He knew she wasn't telling him everything but she was scared of Satan, and he couldn't ignore the threat of him. He could still feel parts of himself that bore the corruption that could only come from Lucifer possession. 

She was right, but finding her was harder than he expected. He didn't want to search for her, but he still found himself looking for the dull blond hair he saw on her.

* * *

 

Maria was ready to pull her hair out. The council was talking in circles, about fates, with the mirror gone they had to deal with oracles and fortune tellers.

"The traitor is your responsibility. Your magic." The chairman growled at the woman.

"Because you gave him the spells to rip it from me. I can do illusions, but I can't do extreme combat." She sighed. "The celestial beasts will more than likely try to resist him, but it's only gonna last so much."

"You will need the Belmont there."

"Of course. How else will I die in his arms." She snapped. "Good to know I'm expendable enough to be sent on a suicide mission."

* * *

 

Maria walked away from the council into the sunlight. She had to pull her hood up to hide how sick she looked. Her jaw was clenched. A thin layer of snow was on the ground and her hoodie was still wet. It was just an eye in the storm, just down the street, approaching her like a bus. Her green eyes had little light in them anymore, but a small flame of anger shaped her glare as she almost looked through the wall of water.

A large white wolf almost glared back at her, golden eyes fixated on the girl in the hooded coat.

Maria turned on her heels and began walking to her what barely counted as living quarters. The rain seemed to rush at her, soaking her once again. She had no cover this time, and bore the weight of the cold rain, like an attack on her very soul. She pulled at the badge sewn onto that jacket that she wore. It tore a little more, exposing patches on her arm to the storm.

She stopped in her tracks. "Alucard." She whispered, her voice shot from screaming ineffectively at the council.

Alucard made a noise in his throat to confirm his presence.

"You'll help me? I can't thank you enough." She smiled, relieved but not facing him. "I'll tell you everything after I've changed into something more comfortable. She lifted her arm for emphasis and her hooded jacket was a second skin on her.

"I do it for the sake of returning the stolen to its rightful owner, but if it can be used to gain the powers of the devil-" he gritted his teeth. Due to her attitude, he could tell that he may be dragged along.

"It wasn't supposed to be." She almost snapped, but anger and something else buried under It filled her voice muddled it. "It's corrupted right now, and I can fix it when it's returned to me." She spun so quickly that Alucard jumped back a little bit. She looked him in the eyes, and she was tired, almost dangerously so.

"It's just a simple mission, I'll get what was stolen from me and stop the traitor. I'll need your help because I'm not at my best." She whispered, shaking from the cold.

"Go home. Get dressed. You dropping dead will not help your mission." He didn't meet her eyes.

She nodded and gave him a soft gentle smile.

 

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

Getting to Maria's living quarters was easy. Even easier when he left, to leave her be. Maria looked at the room that had three doors. One to the outside world, one to a closet and one to a wash room. The mold was apparent even without super human senses. She could taste it in the air. Getting the jacket and shirt off was a bit harder, seeing as it was sticking to her, but there was a lot of relief when she took a breath of air without them.

 

Her shower felt like it was just throwing buckets on her. Her heating had gone out weeks ago, but the brotherhood decided not to give her any more hot water, seeing as it would be a waste.

 

Once clean Maria attempted to dry off. She just dabbled and placed a hand over her heart. She could almost feel where the cold steel was gonna cut into her, sealing her fate.

 

Maria swallowed a scream. Damn the oracles. Damn the fates. Damn the brotherhood. Damn Alucard, and the warm feeling she got in her stomach when he was centimeters away from her.

 

She kept her armor under her bed. Pulling it out and putting it on was a moment of gearing herself up. It didn't cling to her in a groping kind of way, like she was being put on display, but it wrapped around her protectively, like a hug. It held up during so many things, but the day it would fail was rushing up on her.

Grabbing her weapons was almost second nature to her. Her blades were short, barely longer than her middle finger, and thin, but nearly unbreakable, sharp enough to the air and make a noise whole doing so. She slid them into a small sheath on her thigh and turned to the other weapon.

 

The whip was heavier than her knives. She wasn't even used to using this. She carried it ever since Richter perished. It's not the same kind of effenciy in battles as her blades but it would be useful in its own way. She wore this in a holster around her waist, the weight of it causing the side it was on to drop.

 

Her armor had a hood, to hide her blond hair should the need arise. She had her hand on the doorknob, ready to leave, but her hand stopped. She stood there frozen in her tracks as thoughts rushed through her mind. She may never come home. She sighed. Dying on the job was almost in the job description, but her string isn't meant to be cut by a creature of the night.

 

She finally opened the door.

 

The rain had stopped, leaving an icy humid texture to the air. Maria huffed air through her nose and stepped forward, not even bothering to lock her door.  

 

“it should be harder to find where the brotherhood keeps the recruits.” a male accented voice came through, rolling the rs.

 

“Yeah, well the brotherhood’s council doesn't care enough to learn it's lesson, so,” Maria responded in a casual tone, stretching her arms and let out a sigh through her nose. Alucard bunched his eyebrows at the uncaring tone in her response, opening his mouth to say something, but decided better of it.

 

“He should be somewhere in the echo of your father’s castle, where evil has it's deepest roots.” She walked passed him and down the street.

 

Alucard matched her pace easily. “that castle is a creature of chaos. It hates me and likes to eat souls like yours for breakfast.” His tone was cold.

 

“I need what was stolen from me back.” She stopped, looking him in his eyes, frustration built behind the lackluster color.

 

“Yes and what exactly is that," Alucard brought his face closer and cocked her head to the side.

 

Maria blinked and pulled up a facemask, that connected to the color of her armor, biding her mouth and cheeks. “Something that was given to me in good faith.”

 

She backed away and sped up to look for a tall building. Her eyes scanned everything around her, looking for the right one.

 

“I will need more than that, but I'm not getting any more, am I?” Alucard asked, resignation draining onto his voice.

 

“When I get what's mine back, I will gladly explain what it is.” Maria responded coolly as they went building to building in order to find what she wanted. She smiled as she found what she was looking for. The building had a rusted fire escape so it was easy to get to the roof.

 

The storm started picking up again. This time hail joined the mix. Maria put her hood back on and lowered her facemask.

 

She pulled a knife out of her side sheath and sliced her palm. Red mixed with the gathered water on the roof.

 

The Latin came easily to Maria, as a round portal opened up beneath the two of them dropping them inside.


	4. Chapter 4

 

The two of them fell into an entrance. There was a wall between the two of them. Alucard could land on the bottom with no problem, but he couldn't see Maria. His eyes scanned the area around him looking for blood or anything that will tell him that she got hurt. He didn't find any and sighed, looking for a way to break down the walls.

 

Alucard ran his hands over the walls and noticed that he could hear two voices, feminine in nature. He placed his ear to the wall and listened.

 

Maria was surprised by the drop but used the whip to grab on to an edge and slow her descent. She hit the solid floor and easily put it away.

 

“don't do this to him.” an angry voice screamed from the darkness.

 

“what-” she asked before the woman grabbed her shoulders.

 

“don't hurt my son like this, Trevor shouldn't have to mourn another.” She looked Maria in the eyes. “Maria, please, don't do this.” The woman had tears in her eyes.

 

“I'm sorry, Marie, I have no say in this matter.” Maria’s voice cracked.

 

Marie Belmont let her go. “he'll never forgive you.”

 

Maria sighed. “let him. I have no control over what fate has in store for me,  and I hate it too. I don't want to do this to him.”

 

Marie sighed and stormed off. Alucard chose this moment to break down the wall.

 

Maria was facing away from him, towards where Marie had run off to. Her entire body had stiffened and her fists were clenched, shaking and huffed through her nose. Her hood had called off, showing hair that had curled in the attempt to dry. With the castle emitting a warm glow from the lights, he could almost see her skin with a lively glow. Her heart was beating faster than normal, and he could hear her breathing through her facemask. Her eyes were hardened but wet around the bottom, threatening to release the tears down her cheeks.

 

Alucard clicked his tongue, so she would hear him coming, she almost instantly relaxed and wiped the tears away from her eyes.

 

“I'm sure there was a door you could use,” Maria whispered, her voice barely louder than a spring breeze.

 

“You could have been hurt. I'm sure my father will forgive me,” he replied. He walked towards her and placed two fingers under her chin, forcing her to look up. He turned her face to the side gently and looked her over for injuries. With a small twitch of his fingers, be pulled the cloth mask off of the bottom of her face. He could see the ghosts of freckles bridging her nose and blue in the green of her eyes.

 

She locked eyes with him and they held it for a second and Maria almost blushed.

 

“We should get going, I need-” she whispered. She pulled her face away and mentally cursed everyone involved with fate. Alucard nodded and backed away to let her turn on her heels to run towards the center of the castle. His teal coat flapped in the makeshift wind as he kept up with her.

 

Alucard knew she was hiding something, something lethal, but he couldn't figure out how to communicate what he knew. Sypha wasn't as difficult to get things across with, but with this girl, Maria, he realized was her name, he had to unravel the barbed wire to see the treasure underneath.

 

Red and flesh coated the walls as pulsating veins pumped life and magic into the castle.

 

Maria slowed down as they came across an intersection. Her eyes began flashing colors separately as she faced forward left and right. Forward changed her eyes to reddish yellow, left turn her eyes bright icy blue, and right turned them a bright white.

 

“Not right….” She growled under her breath. Alucard didn't sense anything but with her eyes flashing multiple colors like a dull light through stained glass. “something’s missing.” She looked up at him, almost panicking, her brows bunching together.

 

“Just pick a path, we'll deal with things as they come to us, the best-laid plans crumble when faced with the chaos of this damned castle.” He put a hand on her shoulder and liked taking a deep breath. “The castle will mold around you the more you panic.” Maria nodded and breathed slowly, closing her eyes, and when they opened they were hardened, but clear.

 

She nodded and took off full speed forward, the closer she got to something, the brighter they got. Alucard ran after her, feeling the air sound him grow hotter.

 

They were led to an open area. Alucard looked at Maria, her eyes glowing so bright he could see that the glow was flames and she bore the fire.

 

She looked around frantically and they both shot forward at the sound of a crying bird. Flames erupted from the center of the room. Alucard instinctually stood in front of her in case the flames jumped out at her.

 

The blaze died away. In its place stood a familiar feel coat, but the face wearing it was familiar and so foreign at the same time.

 

Alucard glared at the figure in the middle of the room. The man's black hair was all but a memory and the cold blue eyes were an imitation of a dead man.

 

“Alucard, that’s-” Maria whispered. He could only nod. “he has one of the things stolen from me.”

 

“I figured.”

 

“what do you want to do?” she whispered, almost in his ear.

 

“we kill it.”

 

Maria nodded. She grabbed the whip at her side slid around him to use the momentum to make the whip lash out. The end of the chain hit the side of the fake Trevor's face and the side of the face shattered like porcelain. The hole did not show anything, just shadow, but when she did so, the doppelganger grabbed the chain and yanked, making Maria drop it.

 

“Just a little girl playing with toys too big for her.” The fake Trevor laughed. “no wonder the brotherhood sent you away to this mission so quickly. All the faster for you to return in a box.”

 

Maria gritted her teeth. Alucard let his himself glance at her for a millisecond but it was long enough to be stabbed through with the fake’s Vampire Killer whip. It launched him backward and blood pooled around him and his landings spot.

 

“Alucard!” Maria screamed as he laid crumbled. She turned her head and glared at the Trevor Belmont doll. Where the mirror of fate hung from his neck, hung a crystal, emitting flames. “You bastard!” she snarled and stood up and walked towards the porcelain copy.

 

“You should watch that temper, little bastard, you may seal your fate too early.” the fake taunted. Maria stood chest to chest with the copy and slowly ran her hand up his chest in a teasing matter. The copy chuckled and stuck a knife into her thigh. She leaned back and grabbed the chain around his neck and crushed the crystal. Flames exploded around her. The fake crumbled away and the damage done to Alucard was healing. He was able to stand, still clutching his side in pain. His eyes widened in awe as Maria stopped the flames and jumped summoning a fiery set of wings.

 

They dissipated as she landed.

 

Alucard stared at her. Her skin had color and her lips were pink. Granted, she was still really pale, but she looked alive. Even her hair was brighter.

 

“... I think I see why you want what was stolen.” He whispered.

 

She looked at him and limped over. “You're alive!” she spoke, her voice clearer. It had a light tone that brought comfort to Alucard as he listened to it. She placed a hand on his cheek and caressed it. “ I was scared for a second-” he noted that she felt warmer to the touch.

 

“I'm fine. Or I will be. Maria, you are mortal, and I should look at your leg.” He took his hand off of his side and stood up straight, and placed a hand on her arm.

 

“you heard. I never told you my name.” She whispered, her eyes wide. Alucard could only nod.

 

“....I….” She tried to say something, but he placed a hand on her lips and shushed her. “later. Right now, leg.” He lead her to a place away from his blood puddle. He took some of the blood from around the wound and began muttering something in a language even older than Latin and her blood began to glow in a dull blue and began to rub the glowing fluid on the wound, whispering in the same language, never stopping until the wound was closed and the knife was out. Alucard placed the knife down and ran his thumb over where the stab was, satisfied that her skin didn't scar.

 

“now, explain.”

 

“It's a long story” she whispered. “even if me taking the flame cardinal back set him back a few days.”

 

“We have a long time,” Alucard said putting a hand on her knee.

 

“No, we don't.” She wrapped her arms around herself. Tears fell from her eyes. “I'm gonna be dead before this mission is over.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This ones a rollercoaster

Alucard turned to look at her. “...what….?” his voice was hard and steely. Maria locked eyes with him. 

 

“I didn't stutter or mumble.” Maria’s soft green eyes were much lively, but resignation was 

 

“you are going to die in this damnable abomination of a castle?” he whispered softly. She hesitated but nodded. 

 

Alucard sighed and turned around. “you need to leave. Now.” He began to walk away from her. Maria ran in front of him and glared at him in the eyes. 

 

“No. I'm into leaving the mission unfinished.” her voice was hard and had a growl to it. 

 

“I can do it. Go home.” He nudged her out of the way. She walked in front of him.

 

“No! I have to do this, only I can harness the celestial beings, they would destroy you and your soul.” She almost yelled. “I have to do this and I have to die. It scares me and I don't want to, but I have to otherwise people will die, starting with whoever is in the castle.” She looked at him and wrapped her arms around herself. 

 

“then why am I here?” Alucard snapped. 

 

“Because you are supposed to be. With me. When-” she sighed. 

 

“fuck.” Alucard sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “fate has a way of being unnecessarily cruel.” He hesitated. “don't leave my side. There may be a way to stop your fate from ending so abruptly.” 

 

“you can try but…”

 

“But nothing. We will get through this. We will-” he cut himself off with a gasp. He grabbed where he was wounded. Blood coated his hand. 

 

“you’re weak.” Maria sighed and lead him to a wall. Alucard hissed at the comment and slid down the wall. “can't even heal yourself.” 

 

“If I gain the powers to do so consistently, many would die and I can't be that monster. I don't want to be that monster.” Alucard had no idea why he felt the need to defend his choices to her but the words poured out of this mouth before he could think. 

 

“The price of being a savior of humanity.” Maria gave him a smile. She plopped down in from of him. She pulled up her sleeve and took off the steel blocking her vein. Alucard could trace the blue line in her pale skin, hear her pulse, and his fangs elongated. 

 

“No. I can't do that to you-” he rasped. 

 

“why? I'm not sick.” She scoffed. “I just look rough from the loss of magic.” 

 

She pulled out her small knives. The silver almost glowed with magic. Alucard looked at his reflection in the blade and glared. He swallowed the self loathing and huffed through his nose. 

 

Maria brought the knife to her arm.

 

“wait, stop.” Alucard almost yelled.

 

Maria held the blade over her arm, making the skin blister. 

 

“not from your arm.” He found himself stalling. 

 

“well ok, wolf boy, what do you suggest.” She sheathed the small knife. Alucard could feel the ears on his wolf form fold back against his head in offense of the nickname. And he huffed, making Maria almost laugh. 

 

“just give me your neck, less pain, closer to heart, and this will be over quicker.” He grumbled and almost blushed as Maria pulled off her shirt, leaving only a camisole on, a rather see through one at that. 

 

“didn't take you for a squeamish person.” She smirked. She leaned forward and Alucard grabbed her shoulders and bit down on the crook of her neck. 

 

She gasped as the venom took a hold of her and let out a choked moan as the pain turned to numbing bliss. Alucard's arms shifted and cradled her head as she went limp. Her breath came out in staggered gasps and Alucard pulled away to let her get a clear head, but all of her blood went towards the wound and he needed more. He bit back down again. He could taste the magic in her blood and he purred at it. 

 

Alucard stiffened at the sound and Maria let out a breathy giggle. “so The Wolf purrs.”

 

He barely pulled away. “shut up.” Still purring, he let her go. She sat down with her hand on her wound. 

 

“I see why whoever you drink from falls in love with you.” She laughed fully. 

 

“I told the author that it wasn't like that.” Alucard sighed. 

 

“you've never picked up the people you've left behind.” She said, standing up. She pulled her hand away and her skin was clear of any wound. 

 

“you’re a witch.” He stared at her neck. 

 

Maria gritted her teeth. “It's a long story. Let it go. You should be fine now.” 

 

Alucard scoffed and stepped towards her as she slid her shirt back on.

 

“No. I didn't know the brotherhood allowed witches into their ranks.”

 

“They don't.” Her eyes flashed. “I'm also the daughter of Lord Renard.” 

 

“he married a witch?” Alucard was shocked. 

 

“hell, no.” 

 

Alucard froze, lost in thought. Maria turned on her heels and grabbed his arm, dragging him for a foot or so before he came to his senses. 

 

Alucard planted his feet, making Maria's own strength spin her around. He planted one hand on her shoulder and the other under her chin, making her look up. 

 

“Did they send you to your death because of your illegitimacy?” his voice was both angry and comforting, cold and warm, the soft tone pulling at her. 

 

“I'm supposed to die here. My mother died because of my illegitimacy.” Her eyes looked away but she still faced him. Bringing her hand up, she summoned a flame on her finger for emphasis. “They burned her.” 

 

Alucard gasped in shock, even for the brotherhood he never heard of something so barbaric. She he pulled away. 

 

“We still have four to go.” She announced and Alucard followed at her heels. 

 

They went down a dark hallway, which bore no differences to the other hallway. Maria’s eyes had a white-blue glow to her eyes. They were lead to another massive circular room. Alucard could feel the pull that he could only guess was guiding Maria towards something. 

 

In the center of the room stood a white crystal. It was in a cage and suspended high in the air, even with the wings. 

 

Smoke poured out from the bottom of the floor. Maria stepped forward and Alucard tried to grab her, but she seemed to be slightly out of reach. Then the fog slowly turned red. 

 

“The bastard witch.” a voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere. Alucard hissed and Maria gritted her teeth. 

 

“Shaft. Do you have anything better to do than string a girl along?” she bore a casual tone. 

 

“would you prefer to be ran through like a bead?” the voice snapped. Red fluid started to deal up, boiling everything. 

 

“blood!” Maria called out and pulled out the whip to yank her towards a platform higher above ground. Alucard hissed again and dissolved into bats reforming on a platform across from her. Maria’s blond hair was starting to sick to her face from the heat. 

 

“you even brought me the cross! How considerate.” the voice crackled as it began to fade away. Maria looked down, spotting the crystal and looked up spotting a place to attach the whip to. 

 

“Don't even think about it!” Alucard shouted across the room. Maria lashed out the whip, pulled on the grip to make sure the grip was secure, pulled some chain out of the cross and slid it into the holder so it would be secure upside down. “It's suicide.”  Alucard growled as he would only watch her wrap the chain once around her leg. Maria jumped off the foothold from the side and crossed her legs at the ankles as she swung down and across towards the cage. She threw her knives and they cut the cage in half, leaving the necklace with the crystal in free fall. She caught it before it hit the ever rising blood. 

 

The momentum made Maria swing just past Alucard's eye level and she turned to her body to right side up. Alucard could only stare as Maria summoned her wings and as she began to Fall straight down. Maria used the wings to push herself back to her platform. As she angled her fall to land on it feet first. 

 

She did so without issue. 

 

Alucard stared, mouth gaping, trying to ignore that he just got a up and close view to Maria's figure, while trying to ignore the mental image of Maria doing that only in her camisole, her sweat making it stick to her body. She slipped on the necklace and unwrapped her leg, keeping the whip attached to the ceiling. 

 

Unhooking the whip to the harness, Maria pulled at the ceiling. Alucard clicked his tongue and sighed, she’d never get it with her own strength. Alucard dug the nails unto his palm and flung his blood, praying half heartedly that it would work. It did. 

 

A blood whip crossed Maria’s chain and latched on to the bar next to it. With a sharp tug, a portion of the ceiling came down. Maria looked away to avoid the dust and the debris. Upon securing the cross, she looked up to find Alucard inches from her he wrapped a hand around her waist and another supporting her neck, almost in a hug. 

 

Then he jumped into the hole in the ceiling. 


	6. Chapter 6

The two of them flew into a room and rolled along the floor, hitting the wall with a small grunt from pain from Maria. Alucard caressed her head and held her close for a second. Maria huffed through her nose, leaning up to stand up, Alucard only relenting when she put a bit of force behind her movements.

 

“You didn't need to grab me.” She discarded the now empty knife sheath.

 

Alucard caught it and handed her the two knives she had thrown at the cage.

 

“Swinging like that was dangerous and unnecessary,” Alucard spoke with a growl in his voice, slowly pulling the knife sheath up her leg, and fastening it in place, sliding the knives in place, humming in satisfaction as it settled in its familiar place against her thigh.  “Almost as bad as carrying a dead man’s cross.”

 

“I don't have a choice.” She sighed. “The brotherhood hates witches, bastards even more. Used to make me wear a silver ring.”

 

Alucard hissed in sympathy. “The Renard family is even older than the Belmont, how can they do that to you?”

 

Maria looked him in the eye. “Because I’m not a legitimate Renard. My existence brings shame upon the Brotherhood. My mother was a lower level witch. They were gonna drown me! I’m lucky that this is all they did to me.” her eyes were cold and the flames in glowed bright. The gem around her neck flickered blue and her eyes left Alucard’s quickly. She snapped the chain around her neck, revealing it to be silver, burning blisters in her skin and fading all the same without a scar.

 

“The brotherhood trains in magic,” Alucard asked, his voice soft.

 

Maria scoffed and turned around, and looked at the floor. She crushed the Jem and the shards cut into her skin, causing red to drip onto the floor, sizzling and steaming at the contact. Her head jerked up and she spun on her heels, allowing Alucard to see the white-hot glow in her eyes that are making the green fade into a hot white blue. He took a step back and gasped at electricity danced around her. Maria on the other hand, was smiling softly at the electricity, like it was a bouncing kitten.

 

It died down slowly, the color in her eyes going first. She sighed and blinked, her green eyes were brighter and had a light from deep within her. Even her hair was a brighter yellow. Alucard touched a lock of hair and looked at it.

 

“They do, but witches are different. They think that there’s something wrong with my soul, that I’m evil.” Maria stepped away, letting the hair slip away from Alucard’s armored fingers.

 

“I’ve met Satan, you’re not evil.” Alucard whispered, walking up to her, placing both hands on her shoulders, and leaning into her ear.

 

Maria covered her mouth and laughed. “I feel a lot better knowing that I’m not as evil as Lucifer. Thank you.”

 

Alucard sighed and hummed. “I know the pressure of having a disgraced family, and the consequences of trying to bring honor back to the name.”

 

Maria responded by taking one of her hands and squeezing his gently. She stepped away. “We should get moving, The other gems would have been moved by now.”

 

Alucard nodded and pulled away from her. She stepped forward and placed her hand on her hip.

 

“The cross.” she spun on her heels to face him. She stuck out her hand and Alucard smirked with amusement. He handed over the metal and wood cross and she put it in its holder. Alucard wore a straight face, giving no outward showing of emotion.

 

She looked around, finally seeing where they landed. Dried blood coated the wall and echoes of anguished screams bounced off the wall. Wallpaper was ripped off the walls as the cement underneath was carved with Latin, Gaelic and names of the dead. Alucard sucked in air through his teeth. There was laughter blended underneath the screams. Maria’s eyes widened and she rubbed the bridge of her nose.

 

“Goddamnit.” Maria sighed. Alucard looked at her quizzically for a second, but the louder for a second and realization hit Alucard like a punch.

 

“Damnable troll,” Alucard growled.

 

Maria walked forward, hands clasped together behind her back, making her posture straight, and her body language naive and happy. Alucard let her walk a distance before following, the difference in how she was behaving was making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

 

The hall of madness seemed to swallow Alucard up, memories of being staked to death burning his mind. Maria looked at him and clenched her hands, making her heartbeat seem louder. Alucard looked at her wrists, not out of hunger, but something to anchor himself to the reality. Alucard could smell the blood on her hand and he felt his stomach drop as the pressure from the hallway build behind his nose, making it bleed. Maria stopped walking for a moment, long enough for Alucard noticed and his eyes narrowed.

 

Maria broke into a full-on sprint.

 

Alucard almost jumped at the sudden movement, breaking into a sprint, catching up to her. Maria’s heart was racing and he could focus on it. The pressure behind his nose eased as he burned off the anxious energy.

 

The two of them made it to an empty circular room. There was no gem there and Maria's eyes stayed in their new vivid forest green. Alucard looked around, sighing in relief as they made it out of the oppressive hallway.

* * *

 

“Trevor...” a voice purred. Alucard heart sank.

 

In front of him stood a woman with bright red hair. He missed that red hair. Her green eyes, so light they could have been stained glass, looked at him with love and understanding.

 

“Trevor, come here. Its ok, I’m here.” the woman walked up to him, her navy blue dress swished as she walked. Alucard choked back a sob.

* * *

 

Maria looked at Alucard and shouted his name, but he couldn't hear her. He had no idea that she was there. To him, she had disappeared. Alucard felt a tug in his mind telling him that he should be concerned but he couldn't seem to care. His mind was way too hazy.

 

Maria looked to where the vampire had his eyes transfixed. She only saw an empty room but she choked on the wicked magic flooding the room. She backed away, laving Alucard alone in the madness of the spell.

 

“Hehehehe, looks like you need some help.” The Chupacabra spoke in his loud high pitched squeak of a voice.

 

“Aren’t you a thief. Not in the business of helping others.” Maria scoffed.

 

“Aren’t you a knight of the brotherhood, not in the business of working with vampires, much less the son of the princes of darkness.” The Chupacabra smiled, showing his teeth in an unfriendly manner.

 

“Ok, fine, how can you help?” Maria sat down to see him at eye level. She turned around to check on Alucard, who was still staring at something that she couldn't see.

 

“Ha ha. Payment first.” THe trolled giggled, genuinely friendly now.

 

“What do you want?” She sighed.

 

“Gems.”

 

“What?! But I don't-” Maria gasped. The troll ignored her and grabbed her hand, tore off her glove and ran his thumb over her palm. In the gashes of her hand had remnants of the crystal that imprisoned the lightning. The troll gasped and laughed and plucked the crystal out of her hand, making the wounds bleed. Maria let him, her eyes watching Alucard, who was now getting even paler, veins showing through his skin. “Hurry up, please.” her tone was getting desperate.

 

“Grab your knives. The stake as well.” Maria used the non-bloody hand to grab what was requested. The troll placed them under her hand and tilted it sideways. Her blood dripped onto the weapons and The Chupacabra whispered in Latin, making the red fluid glow blue, making the overall color turn purple. It soaked into the weapons and some fell onto the floor.

 

The troll dipped his fingers in the puddle of blood and flung it into Maria's face, making it soak into her skin.

 

She could see what Alucard was looking at now.

 

The Succubus should have been beautiful, but she just oozed wrong. Her eyes were too big, and her hair too red. her bust was suffocatingly big but her hips were not wide enough to support the weight. Her lips were painted red with blood and her teeth were like sharks. Her skin was an unnatural pink.

 

The Chupacabra pulled her attention back to her by using the same magic to heal the gashes. She nodded to him in thanks and grabbed one of her silver knives and threw it.

 

* * *

Alucard felt Sypha touch his cheek, but to him she was cold. There was no telltale heartbeat, just silence from her chest, but her voice was here and he couldn’t help but be pulled into it.

 

“It’s alright, I’m here. I forgive you for leaving us. I forgive you for thinking of knowing Maria like you knew me.” Sypha smiled warmly and leaned in for a kiss.

* * *

 

Alucard leaned down to return the kiss and Sypha let out a shocking shriek like, her voice was layered over someone else’s. The illusion of his late wife dissolved into a monster in his arms with a silver dagger sticking into her head. Alucard gagged and dropped her, moving sluggishly, and collapsed to his knees, gasping for air that he didn’t even need.

 

Maria ran to him and helped him sit down, the both of them watching the demon evaporate. Alucard covered his face, red tears falling through his fingers. Maria sighed and wrapped her arms around one of his.

 

“Thank you,” Alucard whispered. “I'm sorry…”

 

“don't be... that kind of demon feed on sorrow as well as lust.” Maria answered and placed her head on his shoulder. Alucard pulled his hand away from his face and looked at her face.

 

“do you want to stop and stay her for an hour or so, with two of the beasts in my control, we delayed his plans.” Maria asked, her voice as quiet as the succubus’ pulse.

 

Alucard responded by sitting back with his head on her shoulder and began to sleep off the succubus’ curse.


	7. Chapter 7

The two of them sat in complete silence. Alucard had slid off his coat, showing that all of the well earned muscle he bore as Trevor had melted away, leaving behind half of it and taut skin stretched over what remained. Alucard had folded his coat into a metallic and hard pillow for them to share, but in order to do so, they had to be mere inches from each other. Alucard could smell the blood that stuck to her hair, the sweat from the heat, and the soap glazed onto her skin.

 

After the succubus, he was so tired, having been drained almost willingly. His hair laid on the floor contrasting the black and red with his pure white. He could feel Maria’s breath evening and her heartbeat slow evenly, signaling that she was falling asleep next to him.

 

Alucard would have gasped when he realized this if he could. How could she trust him enough to be at her most vulnerable next to a being that she was raised to hate? His hand armor was discarded somewhere near their feet, leaving her open to him raising his hand to her cheek, and gently caressed her cheek, making her eyes blink open slowly, her bright green eyes were glazed from her falling asleep.

 

“...you shouldn't trust a vampire…” He whispered, the exhaustion making his voice lower and with a crack and rasp.

 

Maria simply smiled and laughed. “Didn’t stop you from proving you can be trusted when I had to put myself on the spot.”

 

Alucard sighed and his hand slipped down from her cheek to her shoulder, covered by her cloth armor. He squeezed gently and sighed.

 

“foolish. You are unbelievably foolish.” he sighed and purrs slipped out at her smile.

 

She slipped closer to him and Alucard held the breath he should not have needed.

 

“Is it foolishness if I have someone falling alongside me…?” she whispered and he closed his eyes and sighed, fighting back sinful thoughts and impulses. Alucard's hand slid to her back and pulled her closer, head buried under his chin, and Alucard relaxed from her warmth. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out.

 

“Do you need more blood? The succubus took a lot out of you,” she whispered and ran her fingers over the scar that was left from his heart getting pierced.

 

Alucard grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “I can't ask you to do that, you need to be at your true strength.” his fangs lengthened at the thought though.

 

“The same can be said to you.” She began to slip away and this time, he let her. She peeled her shirt off and her neck had a small yellowing bruise. Alucard put a finger on it and hissed at himself for doing it. Maria snapped her eyes up.

 

“Don't start that.” She snapped. “It's mostly healed and we can move on after you're healed.”

 

“It's not that, it's just… Sypha.” he relented.

 

“your wife? Is that what the succubus made you see?” Maria’s eyes went wide and her voice dissolved into a breath.

 

Alucard stood up and sighed, running his hands through his hair. “after Simon defeated my father for the first time, I found her tomb. I laid down next to her tombstone and just slept for 50 years. When I woke up, Simon was buried with members of the brotherhood.”

 

“Oh god,” Maria whispered.

 

“No, he's not here. I wonder if he ever was.” Alucard grabbed her shoulders for a quick second and they slid up to her cheek the bare skin burning his. “I won't ask you to give any more. blood I won't take it if you give it to me, and I expect you not to ask again.”

 

Maria nodded and she pulled away and slipped her shirt back on.

 

“If you can't continue, go home.” Maria turned on her heels and began to walk away.

 

“I'm seeing this through,” Alucard spoke clearly.

 

“You know what that entails?” Maria sighed. Alucard nodded and hugged her from behind.

 

“I was killed because I was too stubborn to deny fate, you may be killed because you adhere to it.” he mused next to her neck.

 

“fate tends to be either/or.” she ran her hands over his. “it will happen. I will be gone by the end of the visit there.” she ran her thumbs over his knuckles. “We can't stop it.”

 

“fate can be harsh, but so can I,” Alucard promised, the rest starting to make him feel better. Maria made a small noise of acknowledgment from the back of her throat.

 

She slipped away from him walked towards the door. She stopped before opening it.

 

“You should grab your coat before you leave.” she chuckled and slipped out the door.

 

Alucard cursed and grabbed the coat and the discarded armor. Alucard slipped it on and let it settled onto his skin and he could smell her soap on it and he smiled wistfully. He saw a sparkle in the corner of his eye, light blue and distracting.  Alucard frowned and furrowed his eyebrows. He stepped towards the sparkle and picked up a glove, Maria's glove. He held it and looked down to investigate the glow. It was pieces of the gem that the celestial creature was held in. He knelt down to investigate the pieces and could see dried red staining the gem. As he touched it, he could hear the laughter of the damn chupacabra.

 

Alucard clicked his tongue and sighed. He gripped the glove and turned so sharply, his hair and coat flared out. His steps were booming and the door dissolved into the wall surrounding it. Maria was leaning against a wall waiting for him as he stepped through. Her hood was up, making shadow cover her face, almost making her features dissolve completely. Ice coated the walls around them and Alucard could see puffs of air leak out from what he could only guess was her cloth face mask.

 

“You may need this,” Alucard commented, tossing her the glove. Maria caught it and slid it on in one smooth motion. She nodded and walked towards a point where the heat from the corrupted blood on the walls caused the frigid air to crack and steam only to refreeze. Maria passed it and the gray walls were blue with ice. Maria shivered and before Alucard could comment on it she brought her hands to her mouth and small flames left her lips. Through the mask, not setting either one on fire. Alucard raised an eyebrow before lowering it, remembering his current company.

 

The floor gave out beneath them. Alucard stuck his sword into the wall, stopping immediately. He had grabbed Maria before she hit the spikes below by her waist and she latched her arms around the back of his neck. Alucard could feel her heart rise in excitement. Her pulse was pounding against him. She wasn’t as warm as before, but definitely not as cold as she was in that dark alley.

 

“Thank you,” she whispered. Alucard could only nod from her close proximity and urge to kiss her, despite dangling over icy spikes. Alucard could feel the cold from beneath them.

 

“Can you throw me?” Maria asked.

 

Alucard scoffed.

 

“Can you toss me onto the actual floor?” She corrected.

 

Alucard nodded and took his hand away from her waist. Maria tightened her grip on him to compensate, pulling them closer and stretching his self-control thin.

 

He pulled himself up, to sit on the flat side of the sword and Maria had a foot on the hilt. Alucard placed his hands on her hips and Maria placed hers on his shoulders. The two of them counted aloud and at the final number Maria jumped and Alucard helped by tossing her gently, making her jump reach higher. She grabbed the edge of the pit and forced herself into a flip, landing on her feet, knees bent and facing down into the pit out of habit to help her partner up. He and the sword had vanished.

 

Maria looked around but couldn't see Alucard anywhere. Her eyes scanned everywhere but he was gone. Despite the cold, Maria pulled down the scarf, ignoring her now cold and blue lips and shouted his name.

 

“I knew you would betray the brotherhood.” a familiar voice spoke in a calm but malicious tone. Maria looked to where the voice was coming from and gasped.

 

At first, she could only look at the tattoos on his chest, peeking over his shirt. Then she could focus on the white of his hood, then the beard, then the one brown eye, the other one scarred shut.

 

“Victor…” Maria gasped.

  


* * *

Alucard jumped back up to the ledge quite quickly. The sword disappeared when he hit solid land again, no longer needed. When he looked around, Maria had vanished, her cross was laying on the floor next to him, with a small amount of blood, Maria's freezing blood. He grabbed the cross and looked around for a trail he could follow to tell where she had gone. His eyes scanned the area and it was too long before he found drops of blood forming a morbid pathway on the ground, leading to a secret room. Alucard had to punch a hole in a false wall.

 

Alucard ripped the dry plaster off of the walls and growled as he stepped into a room so cold, it burned. Maria wasn't looking at him, she wasn't looking at anything, she was staring into thin air, her pupils contracting and dilating rapidly.

 

Alucard could see her lips now. They were blue and she was barely shivering, she was so disconnected from reality.

 

It hurt Alucard to tear his eyes away from her, but he looked at the creature holding her upright.

 

The male demon had purple hair and red eyes. He had an easy smile and fangs peeking out from his upper lip. The demon was slim with pathetic wings and claws that were stroking Maria, who looked like she had stopped breathing.

 

“familial love is something else, it can bring such delicious misery.” The monster cooed. Alucard hissed and showed his teeth. He listened to Maria’s heartbeat, confused but relieved that he wasn't hurting her physically.

 

“romantic love is fleeting, what may be useful for one person, won't work for another. It's too hard to get a trap down pat.” The incubus squeezed Maria, showing that his forearm was around her neck. Maria gasped and whimpered.  The pathetic noise brought a growl to Alucard's mouth. It was slow, rumbling but harsh. Alucard gripped the whip and stepped to the side to get Maria out of the direct way.

* * *

Maria looked at Victor in horror as he trapped her throat and squeezed.

 

“traitor. You let me die and then partner with the man who benefited from it. You are no better than your witch of a mother we burned.” He growled and got close to her ear. “would you like to join?”

 

Maria brought her knee straight up and knew she hit her target when he let her go.

 

As soon as she hit the ground, she flinched from the cold. She blinked and whispered, summoning the flame bird. Fire wings came from her and other flames danced around her. Her surroundings and the ice melted around her, making the demon drop her, and Maria grabbed one of her daggers and threw it at the same time Alucard lashed out with the whip making the incubus flinch sharply and the dagger went in between his eyes, pinning him to the wall before he dissolved. As he finished disappearing, a vivid white gem appeared, and the light reflected deep in Maria’s eyes. She let the gem fall to the floor and she stomped on it, grabbing the knife that was stuck in the wall.

 

Alucard watched ice build around her feet and shatter, her lips returned to pink, now almost red in shade, he could count freckles on the bridge of her nose and on her neck.

 

She looked him in the eyes and the color of her eyes returned to the normal vivid green and it was memorizing.

 

“let's go.” Maria sighed and stepped towards the hole in the wall, past him, ignoring the cross that Alucard held. She kept moving to the door to continue the mission.

 

“Maria.” Alucard’s voice echoed throughout the room and Maria froze.

 

“don't. I can't do this.”

 

“The mission?” Alucard's voice lowered in confusion.

 

“No! I just….” she wrapped her arms around herself and sighed.

 

She spun around on her heels and made her way towards him.

 

“I can't do this…” she whispered and stood on her toes to kiss him.

 

Alucard understood what she meant in a second, agreed for two, and disregarded it in half of one. He pulled her closer and leaned into the kiss.

 

“I'm sorry,” Maria whispered.

 

And with that, Alucard fell through a portal opened beneath his feet, landing back into the city proper, his hand still gripping the cross.


	8. Chapter 8

Alucard could still feel himself falling, but he didn't know if it was from the gravity or Maria’s essence that he could still feel against him. His mind was foggy, slow to process that Maria had dropped him. His mind racked those few seconds. The kiss and the ground giving out from under him, and her whispers between the two moments played on a loop. The look of regret and sorrow on her face as he slipped away from that reality and the modern one taking its place burned him. 

 

It was muscle memory that saved him. He swung the whip towards a rooftop forming up to a point and felt his body go into a roll as he swung around and was flung to an adjacent building’s rooftop. 

 

The smoke from the city burned his nose and tongue. It made his hair turn a slight gray and his coat turned a duller blue. Lightning cracked as rain poured down. His dirty hair stuck to his face as he climbed down to the cold street. He slid the cross into a pocket of his coat and he stepped on the ground below. His footsteps were dull and muted. 

 

The city was almost repaired but not very lively at night or storms. Many of the people who lived there didn't like to come out when the creatures of shadows could. 

 

That being said, daredevils and even worse, hunters of creatures like him stalked the night alongside the monsters. The latter he could see coming a mile away. 

 

The brotherhood loved making his life, or what constitutes as it, a hell. They loved sending hunters after him, hunters like Maria. 

 

He choked at that line of thought. Maria wasn't just a hunter. He- 

 

Alucard stopped that line of thought as well. First, he needed to find a way back to the castle. Unfortunately, he could hear a dozen footsteps and panicked heartbeats began to surround him. 

 

Alucard stopped walking. The men came to him and each of them bore the brotherhood’s mark. They all wore knives and dark smirks. Alucard shut her and clicked his tongue, shaking his head. 

 

“oi, Wolfie, what do you think you're doing around here with that?! Did Goldie finally croak?” one of them laughed. After a second Alucard recognized them as the men that Maria used to get his attention that started this whole mess. 

 

Alucard hissed at the comment, but did nothing, only grabbing onto the combat cross until his hand bled red in the pocket of the coat. 

 

“Did she seduce you?” a different one spoke. “bitch is just like her mother, hopefully, she burned too.” 

 

Alucard gritted his teeth at them, knowing that if he attacked any of them he would be attacked for the rest of his existence. 

 

“holy shit! She did.” one of them laughed. The ones from behind him started to walk forward into his back, their knives pointed at Alucard. 

 

Alucard flinched and hissed as the silver made contact. He still didn't attack. They were getting closer.

 

Fire erupted from him, throwing all the men away from him. None of them were hurt, just shocked. 

 

The most of the cowards ran. One of them stayed behind. 

 

“I hope you little bastard witch bleed, monster.” He snapped. Alucard walked over to him, showing that his height was consuming the pathetic hunter's. He snarled quietly, making the smirking hunter whimper and scamper off. 

 

Alucard sighed and sat down on the ground, leaning against the wall. Rain kept falling onto him, forcing his hair in front of his face and going down into his lungs and if he needed air he would have choked on the water. 

 

“Trevor!” a female voice rang out. Alucard calmly looked up and looked around for the source of the voice. “Trevor…” the voice repeated. He spotted a woman with dark black hair and a white dress that didn't get wet dispute the downpour. 

 

“mother….” Alucard stood up and grabbed her shoulders almost in an embrace. Marie Belmont smiled at her son. Then she sighed and bunched her eyebrows. 

 

“Trevor…” she sighed. “what are you going to do?” 

 

“I'm going back to the castle. Even if she doesn't want me there, it's better than going through the castle alone.” Alucard looked at a wall to the left of him. “I-” 

 

Marie smiled at him sadly. “I know what you mean. Before your father was manipulated, I felt the same way.” 

 

Alucard nodded and Marie hugged him, bringing him back to the castle. 

* * *

 

Maria had a bloody lip and a bruised cheek. She still had her balance, but one knife she had shattered. She stabbed at a group of lesser vampires, the whole lot of them smelling of blood and death. 

 

She gritted her teeth as her other knife shattered as the second to last vampire disintegrated. Maria looked at the handle and saw there was still a sliver of metal on it and threw it at the vampire. It didn't go in, barely cutting the skin, becoming lodged in the flesh. Maria gritted her teeth and launched herself forward, lightning and flames dancing around her. The monster screamed as the shocks and the burns from the elements around Maria. 

 

It disintegrated. The handle fell to the floor with a hollow clank. Smoke filled the room and Maria walked into the next room. 

 

It was made of stone. It must have been darkly beautiful at one point, but now it was crumbled and dust laid everywhere. The floor had cracks, floor uneven. The only thing that was in the right place was the stone and iron throne. The walls had the frames of mirrors, but the glass had long since been shattered out of it, leaving rotted drywall underneath. Curtains were torn and a faint light shone through. Maria looked around ready for any trouble. She froze when she saw a white wolf sitting on the other side of the room. 

 

Maria sighed, resigned. “fuck.” 

 

The wolf stood up and walked, slowly shifting back into his human-like form. Alucard snarled at her and Maria took a step away from him, making no movement or indication that she was going to attack him. She kept stepping back and he kept walking forward until she was against the wall and he was at arm’s length. He took one finger and put it under her chin and forced it up to make her look him in the eye. Her training to swallow her emotions did nothing to stop the mixture of emotions from surfacing in her eyes. He couldn't see fear, and her heartbeat wasn't panicked but he could see affection and something underneath that, could have been regret, but he didn't see anything like what he spotted in the malicious eyes of the cowards that tried to ambush him. 

 

He sighed and let her go, turned on his heels and walked away. “You dropped me over the city. And the moment I find you, I see that you are going through the castle without a weapon.” His voice was low and hard, with a low rasp, not quite a growl but building up to it.

 

“You shouldn't have to mourn another person.” Maria sighed. “I saw what the succubus did to you and I didn't want-”

 

“let me decide that!” Alucard shouted. Maria closed her mouth at the sound. “If I want a few fleeting moments where I can be Trevor Belmont for just a moment, just one night, I will take it.” 

 

Maria looked away from him. Clear tears fell down her cheeks. Alucard walked up to her in three long strides and looked at her face, seeing the bruise that was healing quickly and the cut on her lips was healed quickly. 

 

“where else are you hurt.” He asked, voice hard, but he wiped the blood off of her chin. Maria said nothing for a second. “Maria!” he hissed through his teeth quietly. Maria hesitated for a second and pulled up the bottom of her shirt, exposing her stomach. There were small shards of silver sticking out of her skin. 

 

Alucard gasped and lead her to a part of the floor that seemed the flattest. It was near the foot of the throne. He made her sit down on the floor and gestured for her to lean back, one hand supporting her weight, the other plucking the silver shards out of her skin, none of them going further than the skin much to his relief. Maria held up her camisole to just below her chest, her shirt discarded somewhere to their right.

 

After he took a piece out, her skin humbled but smoothed over quickly. When he took all of them out, he ran his hand over her stomach, half to make sure he got them all and half to feel the strong abdominal muscles. Maria gasped from the cold of his hand and the magic that she felt under that cold skin. 

 

“looks like I gave you more than blood after all.” She smiled and grabbed his hand, pulled it up and summoned the fire cardinal and the flame danced on both of their fingers. 

 

“when I drink from a creature of the shadows, I can gain their skills and abilities.” He mumbled, really trying not to insult her by putting her on the same level as the creatures they hunt, a creature like him. 

 

“and I'm a witch. You took some magic along with blood.” She was fascinated as she took her hand away and the flame still burned on his fingers. She looked at him and smiled. He looked away from her eyes and looked at a spot to there left. Where He-

 

Alucard blinked that thought away and looked back at her. She had kept eye contact and her eyes still flashed with her various emotions. 

 

Alucard sighed and shifted forward, getting closer to her. “I'm seeing this through with you. For better or worse.” 

 

“You shouldn't.”

 

“No, I shouldn't.” Alucard agreed and let his hand slid up her back and to her neck. 

 

“you’re too stubborn.” She smiled and leaned towards him. 

 

“of course.”

 

Alucard kissed her and pulled her practically on his lap, never breaking contact. 


	9. Chapter 9

Alucard sat comfortably laying against the crumbled remains of the throne. The curtains were smoking and water had gathered in a small moat surrounding the chair on the floor, the place where Trevor had been stabbed was completely destroyed, water washing over it. Alucard had hair damp with water and sweat. He leaned his head back slowly, his head hitting the cracked and disintegrated stone with a soft wet noise.

 

“Hey, don’t start scowling now, you were nothing but smiles a few minutes ago,” Maria whispered, from across the room. The sound made him look at her and he forgot he didn’t need to breathe for the second that his breath was stolen from him.

 

She wore her uniform, but he could see the skin through the holes that the silver shrapnel made. Her hair was soaked with water and slicked backed, and she had Alucard’s coat wrapped around her shoulders like a cloak. The teal clashed with the dark green of her look. Her eyes were a neon green.

 

The green went so against what he knew her eyes to be that it was hypnotizing. Alucard stared at her eyes and recognizing what that meant, sifted his eyes to the door they did not come in from. Looking back at her, a tense beat passed before she nodded. He shifted to the side, beckoning her towards him.

 

Maria nodded and walked over, plopping next to him, making a tiny grunt at the impact. Alucard looked up and saw a ray of sunlight peering through the shadows surrounding the castle.

 

“You fractured the curse of shadows.” Alucard fought back a chuckle.

 

“That’s honestly saying more about you than me.” Maria grinned. Alucard blinked and covered his head with his hands. Maria let out a laugh and scooted closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder.

 

“I’m happy you enjoyed it,” Alucard said flatly. Maria grabbed his hand and placed a kiss on his palm and another on his wrist. Alucard tried to burn the feeling of her warm lips into his memory, but it was gone before he could.

 

The coat slid off her shoulders and plopped down with a dull thud. She let go of the hand and looked at the door with dull, cold eyes. They glazed over as she buried her emotions.

 

“I have to go through that door,” she mumbled.

 

“yes.”

 

“I may not return,” she whispered into his shoulder.

 

Alucard made a huffing noise through his nose and cradled her head. He moved his fingers down her chin and guided her head to look him in the eye.

 

“I know that fate is cruel and often unforgiving, but know that, you will not go through that door alone.” He kissed her softly and swallowed a noise in his throat that sounded like a purr from her closeness. She pulled away from him and looked him in the eyes and smiled sadly.

 

“Even if I survive, I can’t go back to the brotherhood.” She stood up an handed him the coat. The cross was in its proper holder and Alucard almost snarled at it.

 

“They have an issue with you regardless of your success.” Alucard sighed.

 

Matia laughed bitterly. “The only person who didn’t was Victor.”

 

Alucard froze. It was his plan that caused the last surviving Belmont to die. People lived, survived because of it, but the bloodline had been severed. “Maria -” he whispered, unable to form what he wanted to say.

 

“don't, there was an easier way and the Belmonts have a way to do the most sacrificial thing in existence.” she crossed her arms.

 

“You do realize that I myself am a Belmont.” Alucard slid his coat on and flipped his hair out of the coat.

 

“You're not disproving my point.”

 

Alucard huffed and he could feel the ears of his wolf form folding back in offense in the back of his mind. The mocking image of himself crawled himself to the front of his mind. “Did you two-?” he asked, cutting himself off.

 

Maria looked at him and shook her head. “he was with My- Lord Renard’s legitimate daughter. She was killed before she could give birth to the next Belmont. He never got over it. Victor was trying to get me legitimized, so I could become more than a foot soldier,  but he's dead, and I'm gonna be gutted as lower than a grunt.” she sighed and her eyes locked onto the door.

 

“I'm sorry.”

 

“don't be, you gave Victor something more than punching your father in the face.” she began walking towards the door. Alucard ran up to her and grabbed her wrist, his voice piercing her back into her heart.

 

“You shouldn't be left alone, when you get out of this castle, travel with father and me.” He whispered. “You'll be accepted and will be without judgment or threat of betrayal.”

 

“you're asking me to betray the brotherhood,” she whispered. She spun on her heels. “Let's see what happens here, then we’ll see.”  

 

Alucard pulled away and slid his hand in his pocket. His hand brushed up against something soft. Alucard grabbed the material, and slid it out, spotting a dark almost see through it.

 

Alucard blushed at the revelation of what it was. Maria’s camisole was slid back into the pocket without a word. Maria smiled at him when he met her eyes and placed a kiss on his cheek.

 

A small purr slipped from him and he grabbed her arms, placing a kiss on her lips.

 

He didn't know if this was a kiss goodbye, but he didn't want to risk it, pouring everything, every emotion into it. For many heartbeats, the two of them were locked in an embrace but eventually, she pulled away. Alucard tensed for a second but pulled away.

 

“I want to tell you to not be a hero, but it would condemn everything, so I'll just tell you to not be a hero alone,” Alucard whispered as he released her, the two of them stopping in front of the door.

 

The door opened with a loud creak. There was mostly wood on the floor, but the heat and stress of the ever-changing property of the castle made the wood warp and bend, the planks twisting. There was a smell of blood and iron on the wall, but it was far too dark to see, the only source of light being a neon green gem. The light made the room have a sickly glow. There was silver dust in the air, burning Maria’s lungs and making her skin turn red. Maria stepped forward and the light in her eyes was lost in the gem, who’s glow got brighter, but it did nothing against the pitch black around the light. Alucard followed close behind her, but even then, she was fading from his view.

 

Alucard reached out to touch her hand, but he reached a hard surface like glass was covering an area that he couldn't step through.

 

Maria felt that he had vanished, and she turned around to her heels, looking at him until she noticed something and she looked at something between the two of them. Her eyes looked like they were looking through him, but she glared at something between them. Maria snarled an expression that looked proper on a deranged monster of the shadows, and summoned the flame bird, flames dancing around her, illuminating the room and forming talons around her fingers, the flaws razor sharp and ringing. Alucard understood and took a step backward.

 

Maria slashed at the barrier between them. Lightning and ash bounced back from the hit and she hit again, her voice muffled as he could tell she was screaming from the effort, but it was doing nothing. Maria stopped and looked at Alucard with acknowledgment in her eyes as the flames died down and she was swallowed by the green shadows.

 

Alucard put his hands on the barrier and cried out her name. Maria slid on her hood, hiding her face from him even more. She stopped and held her breath for a second. She took one step away from him and then two, before turning away from him.

 

Alucard screamed her name and banged his fist against the barrier, sending shocks up his arm. Alucard hissed in pain, biting down on his lips and tongue, drawing blood.

Maria turned to look at him one more time, closed her eyes and grabbed the gem.

 

It was a piece of glass with a flame under it. Maria cursed loudly as the light turned on in the room, showing the gore on the walls and in the middle, in what Alucard could now see was a shield,  stood an elderly man.

 

“So the witch grew courage and decided to face me.” He smiled horrifically, his eyes scanning her body, obviously imagining things that only Alucard would know about her.

 

Alucard kept banging on the barrier. Sparks kept flying and Alucard eventually stopped. The old man watched Alucard and cocked his head to the side.

 

“looks like I'm not the only traitor…” he smiled. Maria stepped between the two and grabbed her cross. She slipped it down to a comfortable grip, and it was upside down, ready to lash out. It made a small clicking sound and Maria swung it out, hitting his chest, the end breaking off in the old man's chest. The chain itself returned but a lot of the damage was now gone. The old man stumbled and snarled. “after all I've done for you, let your bastardous soul into the brotherhood, you owe me this, with this power I could wipe out the brotherhood.”

 

“while they are awful, you would absolutely wipe out humanity.” Maria sighed dramatically. “and I'm not gonna let you do anything, on account of calling me a bastard.” she smiled darkly and whipped out the chain, lashing out repeatedly, making the old man jumped to the air, using magic to fly as the real gem bounced around on his chest.

 

Maria slashed out, the chain wrapping around the man’s ankle, summoning flames up the chains and causing them to burn into his leg and melted the chain, making it brittle as it cooled and causing it to shatter as he hit the ground.

 

Maria swore as she realized what this was forcing her to do. She slid the cross back into its holder as she summoned the lightning to surround her. She rushed towards the old man, throwing punches that he dodged easily, showing his experience over her.

 

Maria didn't see the old man grab the cross with one good blade left, but Alucard did, banging one last time against the barrier, hurting his arm as the shocks danced through his arm, rendering it useless.

 

Maria heard the commotion that Alucard was making and seemed to get angrier. She was breathing heavily, and the silver in the air was getting to her. It was several things at once, first it as the impulsive decision that burned out her long range option, then it was her vision slipping, causing her to miss the fact that her opponent slipped the weapon. Then it was her reflexes slowed down as she was slowly strangled by the dust in the air. She coughed, the sound small, but it distracted her long enough to realize she needed to back away. She grabbed the green gem and pushed away from him, snapping the chain.

 

“bitch!” the old man snarled as she crushed the gem, releasing the barrier, but as the power radiated from her, the old man took the cross and stabbed it into her chest.

 

Alucard screaming in rage as he stumbled from the pain of the shocks, watching as Maria stumbled, pulling out the end pies stuck in the heart of the old man, making him crumble.

 

Alucard gathered his footing just in time to catch her fall. He could see her clothing darken around the wound and the wet spot growing. The fight and the silver obviously draining on her, making the fight for her life seem so futile. Bright lively blond hair, worthy of a child of a Lord stuck to her face as Alucard wipes it away, seeing the silver dust collect on his hand.

 

“did I get him?” she rasped. Alucard cos only nods as he cradled her slip form, the cross embedded so deeply only the hilt in the cross was stopping it. Red dripped from her lips as Alucard could hear the flesh inside her tearing and her own body trying to stay alive was making the thing that was killing it cause all the more damage. Maria let out a small whimper before she continued. “we made quite a team, didn't we, Alucard?” she gave him the best smile that we could, as tears of pain built up and rolled down her cheeks. “thank you for not letting me do this alone.” she whispered as her eyes rolled up, her strength and life abandoning her.

 

Alucard let in a small breath and wiped the tears from her cheeks. Standing up he placed a small kiss on her forehead and walked out of the room, carying Maria and ignoring the evil that was bubbling from the mixture of Maria and the old man’s blood, along with the twitch of his hand.


End file.
